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amother
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Post Sun, Jan 20 2019, 5:19 pm
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Last edited by amother on Mon, Feb 11 2019, 6:56 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Optione




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jan 20 2019, 6:34 pm
Multiple times a week I find 10 items in my house that I can either throw out or give away.
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mom!




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jan 20 2019, 7:36 pm
1. PLAN. Supper menu, Shabbos menu, errands ect. I find motzai Shabbos is a great time to do this. KEEP A LIST AND CROSS OFF AS YOU ACCOMPLISH. Cook once, eat twice. Double as you cook so you have backup options.
2. Figure out a laundry schedule that works for you and your family. I personally like doing twice a week so I don't feel like I am always busy with it. Others find one load a day keeps them managing.
3. GET CLEANING HELP.
4. GET CLEANING HELP. (Not a typo that I repeated this.)
5. Keep a magnet note pad on your fridge. Every time you start finishing something, write it down. This way you have your grocery list ready and your not running out of things you assume you have.
6. I prioritize household jobs. It makes the house look and feel like were not managing if there are toys all over and dishes in the sink, however it doesn't bother anyone if a load of laundry waited in the dryer for the morning.
7. Consider doing this: one night a week order pizza, make frozen pizza bagels ect. (in town, not more expensive than regular chicken.) Zero prep almost zero clean up. Make this night date night, even if you stay home. Tackle homework, bath time, cleanup bed time together. Spend however much time you have left together.
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amother
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Post Sun, Jan 20 2019, 8:40 pm
best technique cept I shud start practicing it more

'do as you go'

yea, I know....
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ra_mom




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jan 20 2019, 8:41 pm
Optione wrote:
Multiple times a week I find 10 items in my house that I can either throw out or give away.

Yup. Purge. That's the #1 best way to keep organized. It will also make you thing twice before bringing something home into the house.

#2, which is really part of #1, is a place for everything, and everything in its place. Either find a place for an item so that you automatically know where to put it and that there's room for it when you see it out of place, otherwise get rid of it.
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amother
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Post Mon, Jan 21 2019, 9:13 am
have less stuff
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Rachel Shira




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 21 2019, 12:03 pm
ra_mom wrote:
Yup. Purge. That's the #1 best way to keep organized. It will also make you thing twice before bringing something home into the house.

#2, which is really part of #1, is a place for everything, and everything in its place. Either find a place for an item so that you automatically know where to put it and that there's room for it when you see it out of place, otherwise get rid of it.


This is what I was going to say. Straightening up a messy room should be super quick.
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amother
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Post Mon, Jan 21 2019, 1:19 pm
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Last edited by amother on Mon, Feb 11 2019, 6:57 pm; edited 1 time in total
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mom!




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 21 2019, 1:21 pm
I prepare supper the night before or in the morning. This way I can easily pop into the oven when I get home.
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amother
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Post Mon, Jan 21 2019, 1:27 pm
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Last edited by amother on Mon, Feb 11 2019, 6:57 pm; edited 1 time in total
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amother
Indigo


 

Post Mon, Jan 21 2019, 2:00 pm
Definitely have less stuff. I learned this in summer camp. I had very few clothes, less than what was listed on the camp list, while most of my bunkmates had twice as much. My cubbies were always neat, and I saw how impossible it is to have a neat cubby when you're trying to cram in more clothes than the cubby was meant to hold. I no longer remember how to lash sticks together to make a raft but I still remember this.
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thunderstorm




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 21 2019, 2:10 pm
smileforamile wrote:
The problem is, my apartment doesn't have enough space to contain everything.

Other questions:
1) What are your favorite organizers for kitchen items? I have a hard time keeping my spatulas, ladles, slotted spoons, etc. in order. I just dump them in a cabinet right now.
2) I just feel like I have so many miscellaneous items without a spot. There's an extra bed in my kids' room that has all sorts of stuff on it; we have a whole slew of vitamins and medications on top of our armoire; our armoire isn't big enough to contain all our stuff, so it gets messy very easily; etc. I don't know what to do with this stuff, since we need it! Should I throw out the prescription 400mg of Advil that I have from after I had my baby? I don't want to, I use it sometimes...
3) It kind of annoys me that my DH leaves his stuff around a lot. He believes he is naturally a neat person, and my disorganization is rubbing off on him... but then he leaves out all the ingredients whenever he cooks, doesn't put his dirty dishes away, doesn't clear up after he eats, etc. I've asked him nicely (in a very offhand way) a couple of times, but nothing has changed. What can I do about that?


You can organize a drawer by putting shallow bins in them to separate items by category. For example I have a drawers with two little bins that cost $1.00. It's a very shallow drawer so I can't stack anything. I filled one bin with baby nipples, bottle covers, etc. and the other with folded baby bins and baby spoons. I don't have to search through a messy drawer full of odds and ends to find anything anymore.
If you have access to Netflix you should watch the recent series called Tidying Up. It's Marie Kondo, the world famous Japanese organizer , who goes to different people's homes in the US to assist and teach them how to organize. I took so many amazing tips from her. It's worth a binge watch and it will motivate you to organize .
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thunderstorm




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 21 2019, 2:12 pm
smileforamile wrote:
The problem is, my apartment doesn't have enough space to contain everything.

Other questions:
1) What are your favorite organizers for kitchen items? I have a hard time keeping my spatulas, ladles, slotted spoons, etc. in order. I just dump them in a cabinet right now.
2) I just feel like I have so many miscellaneous items without a spot. There's an extra bed in my kids' room that has all sorts of stuff on it; we have a whole slew of vitamins and medications on top of our armoire; our armoire isn't big enough to contain all our stuff, so it gets messy very easily; etc. I don't know what to do with this stuff, since we need it! Should I throw out the prescription 400mg of Advil that I have from after I had my baby? I don't want to, I use it sometimes...
3) It kind of annoys me that my DH leaves his stuff around a lot. He believes he is naturally a neat person, and my disorganization is rubbing off on him... but then he leaves out all the ingredients whenever he cooks, doesn't put his dirty dishes away, doesn't clear up after he eats, etc. I've asked him nicely (in a very offhand way) a couple of times, but nothing has changed. What can I do about that?

You can keep your kitchen utensils in a tall cylinder shaped container on your counter in a corner. Organized and easy to access and it doesn't take up a shelf in your kitchen.
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ra_mom




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 21 2019, 3:08 pm
smileforamile wrote:
The problem is, my apartment doesn't have enough space to contain everything.

Other questions:
1) What are your favorite organizers for kitchen items? I have a hard time keeping my spatulas, ladles, slotted spoons, etc. in order. I just dump them in a cabinet right now.
2) I just feel like I have so many miscellaneous items without a spot. There's an extra bed in my kids' room that has all sorts of stuff on it; we have a whole slew of vitamins and medications on top of our armoire; our armoire isn't big enough to contain all our stuff, so it gets messy very easily; etc. I don't know what to do with this stuff, since we need it! Should I throw out the prescription 400mg of Advil that I have from after I had my baby? I don't want to, I use it sometimes...
3) It kind of annoys me that my DH leaves his stuff around a lot. He believes he is naturally a neat person, and my disorganization is rubbing off on him... but then he leaves out all the ingredients whenever he cooks, doesn't put his dirty dishes away, doesn't clear up after he eats, etc. I've asked him nicely (in a very offhand way) a couple of times, but nothing has changed. What can I do about that?

I find that while apartment living is extra hard, it's so important to live within your space. Otherwise you don't get to enjoy your space and always feel overwhelmed.

1) Spatulas, cutlery, etc - when I only had 1 drawer in my first kitchen, I used a mesh cutlery holder in an under shelf mesh holders, and actually kept them in the upper cabinet.
Somehow I had an easier time keeping those there and used the small drawer for the spatulas and stuff because I needed quicker access to them during cooking. Then I limited the amount of spatulas for dairy and kept those in another under shelf within thing.
2) Medicines and vitamins. Yes it kills me to throw them out, but every once in a while I throw out or give away (vitamins) because the stress of the jumble and tumble ends up getting to me and I try to remind myself I'm worth more than that, even if the vitamins wefe expensive. If I haven't used it in months (and it's not cranberry pills or the like that's needed on hand for real emergencies), out it goes. No 2 open bottles of children's Tylenol. If we like Motrin best for adults, get rid of the rest because there's just no room.
3) It's not easy. I know what it's like. But the neater the cabinets are (space to see what's there - not stuffed and things jumble out) the easier it will be for him to put the items back and the less stressed out you will be as well because it won't be so hard.
I find it's a constant work in progress. There's no way for things to stay the same with people coming and going, school working conning home, mail arriving, shopping bags and boxes of stuff coming in. It all piles up so quickly!


Last edited by ra_mom on Mon, Jan 21 2019, 3:13 pm; edited 1 time in total
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amother
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Post Mon, Jan 21 2019, 3:12 pm
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Last edited by amother on Mon, Feb 11 2019, 6:55 pm; edited 1 time in total
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ra_mom




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 21 2019, 3:18 pm
smileforamile wrote:
Thanks for all the advice!

Another question: how do you keep your pots and pans neat? My cleaning lady sorts them, but she ends up mixing up the milchig and fleishig ones (even though they're in separate cabinets and labeled meat or dairy). Also, the shapes and sizes are so different, and my cabinets inevitably end up a mess.

I end up spending a bit more money to make sure my pots stack, and I gave some away. I stack the pots in one pile, and the lids in another.
There are certain things I know I have to put away on my own before I have cleaning help over (like tights sizes are always placed in the wrong drawers or parve utensils too which although I tell her, I end up finding in random places).
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amother
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Post Mon, Jan 21 2019, 3:26 pm
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Last edited by amother on Mon, Feb 11 2019, 6:55 pm; edited 1 time in total
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oneofakind




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 21 2019, 3:49 pm
To distinguish between 1 kid's tights and another, older sis gets 1stripe of puff paint on waistband, next gets 2 etc. If a tights makes it as a hand me down, you can always add another stripe. I fold them in half, 1 leg over the other, roll them up into top part like you would roll up a pair of socks.
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teachkids




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 21 2019, 3:51 pm
smileforamile wrote:
And another one: how do you fold/organize tights? I feel like they're always one big blob in my drawer.


My solution was just to use 2 of the smallest drawers for the tights so I can just shove them in and not worrying about it. 1 drawer is a mess of black tights, and 1 a mess of nude tights. Grab and go.
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ra_mom




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 21 2019, 4:35 pm
smileforamile wrote:
And another one: how do you fold/organize tights? I feel like they're always one big blob in my drawer.

Fold one leg over the other, so you have one neat long leg. The top panty part is nice and flat and folded over. Then fold the entire long leg in half, bring toe to top of tights. Fold again. Depending if adult size, then fold one more time. And then you have this neat pocket to tuck it all into (it's the half of the top panty part).
It's the same way you'd fold leggings, just you flip it into the "pocket" at the end.
If you need pictures, pm me and I can text them to you.
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